46 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



"In the course of a lengthy conference Champ Clark, representative in 

 Congress from Missouri, openly stated that free trade, would tend to pre- 

 vent devastation of American Forests, and it did not matter if Canada was 

 denuded of hers. The Tariff fight in the United States has developed into a 

 contest between the mill owners of the Pacific Coast and the owners of tim- 

 ber, who live south of the boundary, but whose limits lie north. These latter 

 see how they can cut for their own market if given an opportunity and go 

 through the forest as fast as fire; as they did in the vast areas of Michigan, 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota, which were once wooded. Present riches are all 

 that are sought and Canada should assist British Columbia to prevent the 

 ruthless cutting of timber." 



I have made these quotations to bring forcibly before your minds the 

 value of our forest product and the necessity for conserving it, and also to 

 show that the Americans want our wood to save their own. 



I hope that our discussions will be as profitable as usual and will con- 

 duce largely to the advantage of Canada, in so far as her forest wealth is 

 concerned. 



The agitation started by this Association in a small way has now grown 

 to great proportions, and if the Association has not done anything more than 

 awaken public opinion in regard to the preservation of our forest, it has per- 

 formed a great service to this country. 



"GREAT OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS GROW." Great credit 

 is due those who dropped the little acorn in 1900, as we already have a great 

 tree that is spreading its branches over the whole Dominion. 



In closing I cannot do better than quote from en address made by the 

 Honourable James Wilson before the American Forest Congress held in 

 Washington in January, 1905. 



"I look for excellent results from the deliberations of this Congress, 

 for more light upon vexed questions and for the statement of new and use- 

 ful points of view. But above all, I hope from our meeting here there will 

 come a complete awakening to the vastness of our common interest in the 

 forest, a wider understanding of the great problem before us, and a still 

 more active and more earnest spirit of co-operation. Unless, you, who repre- 

 sent the business interests of the country take hold and help, forestry can 

 be nothing but an exotic, a purely Government enterprise, outside our indus- 

 trial life, and insignificant in its influence upon the life of the nation. With- 

 out forestry the permanent prosperity of the industries you represent is 

 impossible, because a permanent supply of wood and water can come only 

 from the wise use of the forest, and in no other way, and that supply you 

 must have." 



THE PRESIDENT : I will now call upon Mr. Aubrey White to read his 

 paper upon the "The Forest Resources of Ontario.'' 



